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Familying with Customers - 10/28/25


In our transactional society, it’s hard to think about customers in the long-term.  But if we want to be as successful as we can as an individual or as a business, we need to view customers through a relationship lens. What do we need to know about them to Read more

Avoid These Techniques - 10/21/25


We had a Customer Service Tip of the Week recently that addressed gaining control of the conversation.  One of the key points was that the focus should be on gaining control of conversations in various circumstances, but trying to avoid making it your goal to gain control of the Read more

View Quality through the Customer’s Eyes - 10/14/25


Geri had been dealing with backups in the downstairs plumbing system of her house on and off for the past year.  The most recent company that she called in to unclog the pipes stated that they could send a camera down the pipes and tell her exactly where the Read more

Be Supportive, Not Defensive - 10/7/25


[An employee on the phone with a customer…] Who told you that you didn’t have to submit that form? … Bob?  Oh brother!  You see Bob is our “special” co-worker.  He seems to always tell customers the wrong thing to do, and we’re having to clean up after him.  Read more

Some Customers LOVE Predictability - 9/30/25


I was facilitating focus groups of businesses that utilize local government services.  The phrase that popped up multiple times was “Time Is Money!”  What these municipal customers were conveying was that their time was valuable, and delays were wasting their time.  But the conversations were not just about how Read more

Find Your Special Sauce - 9/23/25


When I watch a football game and I see a great quarterback (somebody who may be considered a “Star”), he might be an excellent runner, have a big arm, be able to diagnose the defense and get his team into the right play.  But he’s likely not great at Read more

Gain Control of the Conversation - 9/16/25


The customer’s angry or upset or they have a complaint.  They’re very chatty or very wordy or they just want to talk to somebody.  You’re on a time crunch, and the customer obviously is not. There are times when you need to gain control of the conversation.  It’s important for Read more

Complement with a Compliment - 9/9/25


We perform many tasks for our customers every day, and when we’re done with a step in the process, oftentimes we will tell the customer what’s been done.  But if we want to create more of a WOW experience, if we want to make the customer feel a little Read more

When Patience Begets Patience - 9/2/25


Jennifer, the server, walked toward the couple in the restaurant.  The customers had been seated for a minute or two, and they noticed the server was walking briskly toward their table.  Jennifer recognized the couple she was about to serve, because they had been in the previous week. Since the Read more

Address the Expectations that Were Set - 8/26/25


Before the caller ever got to Marco – the customer service representative, the customer had been working with the company for months.  They had read the marketing brochures, had a conversation with a sales rep, reviewed the new customer information on the website, and read all the information e-mailed Read more

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Familying with Customers – 10/28/25

Posted on October 28, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

In our transactional society, it’s hard to think about customers in the long-term.  But if we want to be as successful as we can as an individual or as a business, we need to view customers through a relationship lens. What do we need to know about them to keep them and grow our business with them?  What if we truly viewed customers…as family?

Believe it or not, there is a word (depending on what dictionary you check) called Familying.  It is defined as:  Supporting, providing emotional or practical help to family members.

If we consider customers in a long-term relationship-oriented manner, we could define our role in a customer family as being those supporting, providing emotional or practical help to customers.

To be most effective in helping them long-term, we have to get to know them.  Let’s break down FAMILYING in terms of what we need to know to build relationships with customers:

F is for Fiscally understanding our customers.  They are customers of our business because they are spending money or resources with us.  The better we can understand their economic situation, the parameters within which they can spend money on the types of products and services we have to offer, the better we can tailor our offerings to meet their needs.

A is for understanding the customer’s Attitude and their emotions.  Some customers in the moment or in general are very emotional, and we have to be cognizant of that and address the emotions as much as the topic at-hand.  Others are less emotional, and we can deal more with them on the facts and the figures.  The better we can understand the emotions, the better we can understand how to engage them effectively.

M is for understanding their Motivators.  Why are they with us as a customer, and why could they leave?  The more we understand the reasons behind their decisions, the better chance we have of affecting their decisions to stay or to go, to spread positive or negative word-of-mouth.

The ILY is embedded in understanding our customer’s fiscally, attitudinally, and motivationally.

The ING in FAMILYING with customers is the ING I’ve brought up a few times before in these tips. The better we understand their Issues, Needs, and Goals, the better we can help them resolve their Issues, address their Needs, and support them in achieving their Goals.

To develop a long-term relationship with customers, get to know them Fiscally, Attitudinally, Motivationally, and what are their Issues, Needs, and Goals.  Start with a little FAMILYING.

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Build Strong Customer Connections – 8/6/24

Posted on August 6, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

We’ve worked in health care, education, local government, finance, pro sports, and many other industries.  And while our clients’ customers are often different, their specific scenarios for engaging those customers are different, and policies and procedures are different – there’s one thing that is pretty similar.  And that is how you build and grow relationships with customers.

The process is not necessarily sequential, but let’s view it through that lens just for simplicity’s sake.  First, the core of relationship development and growth with customers is getting to know them well.  What is unique about them as an individual?  What do they care most about in the customer experience?  What are their engagement or purchase patterns?  To build a relationship, you have to build an inventory of knowledge about the customer.

Next, you’ve got to keep the communications going.  Long periods of lack of engagement, major gaps between conversations or touch points – these are opportunities for the relationships to go stale.  These are opportunities for the customer to find an alternative to your business.  Therefore, intentionally build a cadence of communications with your customers so that the relationship and the engagement stay fresh.

Why did they first start working with you, and why would they leave?  Understand those retention drivers – what matters most to them – and try to address those important matters.  If you’re shooting for loyalty and eventual growth, don’t get lost in the hundreds of data points you have on that individual if there are 1 or 2 or 3 that are going to retain them.

Finally, look for opportunities for growth.  If you’ve done a good job getting to know them, keeping communications fresh, and addressing their retention drivers, then you can feel more confident in trying to grow business, trying to grow that relationship.  Then you can focus on identifying where they have a need or a want that your organization can meet.

Have an intentional process for building relationships with your customers for the long-term.

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Nurture New Relationships – 6/4/24

Posted on June 4, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Freddie was a new business owner in town.  He was launching a franchise, had acquired some funding from a local bank, and was in search of staff who cared about customer service.

All the while, he was in the process of renovating a storefront for his business, so he was dealing with the local municipality a lot on plans and inspections.  But to Freddie, the process was shockingly easy.  Well, maybe the process wasn’t easy, but going through the process was easy.

For the most part, submitting plans through the web portal, getting comments on plans and getting inspections scheduled and conducted was typical. Getting results of the inspections and correcting issues – these were all fairly standard processes – sometimes cumbersome, sometimes clunky or not self-evident.

The Secret Weapon

But Freddie had a secret weapon; the municipality in this community had a navigator position.  This was essentially a governmental point person to help business owners and developers work through all the different processes that they had to deal with for remodels, renovations, new development, etc.  No matter what area of the city or county that Freddie was dealing with, the navigator helped him through the process.

The navigator not only met with Freddie upfront when he first submitted his plans, but the navigator conducted what was akin to an onboarding session like you would do for a new employee.  The navigator set up bi-weekly calls with Freddie to ensure he was on track, and would have as-needed communications to help through issues.

See Him as an Individual

The navigator learned about Freddie as well as learning about his project.  The navigator would send Freddie information in advance of when he needed it to help him to prep for the next step and make sure he kept things on time and on budget.

The navigator’s name was Helen.  And while this seemingly fairy tale experience did not end with the main characters getting married, it did end with Helen having started and nurtured a relationship on behalf of the municipality with the new business owner.

Think about the new customers you have and how they and their needs are so different than those of your existing customers.  Intentionally map out a process and approach to help them navigate any pitfalls.  Dedicate resources to onboard these clients, nurture relationships, and grow your business by helping them to grow their success with a great customer experience.

Nurture New Relationships.

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